Boss of S.Africa's Nedbank forgoes a third of salary for three months amid virus

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JOHANNESBURG, April 10 (Reuters) - The boss of South African lender Nedbank, Mike Brown, will donate a third of his salary for the next three months to a fund for those impacted by the new coronavirus, the bank said in a statement on Friday.

Brown’s move follows President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement on Thursday that senior government officials would take a one-third pay cut for three months so that the funds could be used for the coronavirus response and his call for others, including business leaders, to do the same.

“I encourage those executives who are able to do so to respond to the President’s call,” Brown was quoted in the statement as saying.

Brown is the first chief executive of a major company to heed the request. His remuneration is worth a total of 9.1 million rand ($500,000) from April 2019, a Nedbank spokeswoman said.

The South African Reserve Bank has also asked lenders to skip bonuses in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. ($1 = 18.1978 rand) (Reporting by Emma Rumney; Editing by Hugh Lawson)